Coming out of dormancy

[w6rbk]

Fellow CP lovers please give me your advice.

I am in San Jose, CA and have left my darlingtonia, sarracenia, dionea, drosera and a temperate ping outside to "sleep" during the winter. As it warms up now I am hoping they will wake up and return to full growth. There's some amount of dead traps that of course I will cut back, but there are some parts that look healthy although somewhat "older". The question is, should I cut these back as well to permit new growth, or leave them on to let the plant to get some photosynthesis? Any other advice for what the best way to help the plants recover from dormancy would be highly appreciated. They've had plenty of moisture all winter.

[Alexis]

The general advice is to leave on anything green, no matter how tatty.

On the other hand, some plants do experience burns in the wild, so don't mind being cut right back in the spring. I would only cut the plants right down in the spring once every few years though.

[w6rbk]

Thanks very much Alexis, I cut back the obviously dead parts and will see how that goes. I was pleased to see some new growth already so am optimistic the plants will do well.

[brokken]

I live in San Jose and my take on it is that I like to cut older growth in the spring just prior to the emergence of new growth. This way the new growth is not crowded by old, any pests that may have gotten a hold of pitchers (old growth seems to get scale) are removed and the new growth gets better exposure to the sun. The exceptions to these practices are S. purpurea and S. psittacina - which keep their pitchers for a year or more.

[w6rbk]

Thanks very much, I'll follow your advice. Please see my other questions to you on growing in San Jose when you have time. This is the first year my plants will be outside all year long and I'm wondering just how they will do in the hot, dry summer.